Vineyard Selection Sauvignon Blanc

Enjoy with fresh fish and summer salads.

The 2023 winter was characterized by frequent cold spells and above average rainfall, ensuring full dams and replenished groundwater reserves for the growing season ahead. The excellent winter was followed by an extremely dry summer with heavy winds during flowering, influencing fruit set quite heavily on earlier cultivars, resulting in lower yields. In addition, an unusually hot and dry summer dried out the topsoil to such and extent that the grapes ripened up to 14 days earlier than usual in 2024. Frequent ripeness monitoring by the viticultural team ensured that the grapes arrived at the winery in perfect health and bursting with flavour, promising great wine. The wine was produced from selected dryland vineyards in Stellenbosch (False Bay), Durbanville and Darling.

The wine spent 2 months on the primary lees before being blended and bottled.

The grapes were picked very early in the morning. Every process from picking to bottling was done super reductively with dry ice already being added in the bins in the vineyard at harvest, and carried through until the juice reaches its fermentation tank. After destemming and crushing we gave at least 12 hours of skin contact to extract maximum flavour from the skins. Only the free run juice was settled for 1 day and then racked to the fermentation vessel. It was inoculated with selected yeast strains and fermentation took place at 13°C.

Kleine Zalze wines are marked by a classical structure and complexity matched by a vibrant flavour intensity. Discernibly South African in style, they are refreshing, beautifully balanced and well-suited to food. Our wines are made according to traditional methods with minimal cellar intervention, but supported by modern equipment.